I’ll be back ... in seven years

The Terminator (1984)

Rating: R

Runtime: 107 minutes

Box Office (in today’s dollars): 86 million (approximately)

Characters: The Terminator, Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, Lieutenant Ed Traxler, Sergeant Hal Vukovich, Dr. Peter Silberman, Ginger Ventura, Matt Buchanan

Cool Stuff: The Terminator

Cool Music: If you like Yamaha keyboard sounding music then all of it is cool

Cool Quote: “Come with me if you want to live.”

This is easily the most violent movie on my list so far. First, naked Terminator rips a punk’s heart out, there are lots of guns and lots of car/motorcycle/truck chases, future battles with sweet lasers, an uncomfortable love scene that doesn’t look fun for anyone involved, and a naked Kyle Reese steals a homeless man’s pants. Sarah Connor is the best female character I have reviewed in a while. She is smart, tough, and hot. Kyle Reese is also smart, tough, and hot. But I think the Terminator steals the show. He is a total bad ass and is almost unstoppable.

The music and the special effects are pretty bad ... but that is actually what makes them pretty awesome. In contrast to the Star Wars movies, this sci-fi movie is low budget and a little bit behind the times with technology. But things will get better for director James Cameron. And by better I mean he will direct two movies that had huge budgets, but secretly sucked.

I am almost positive that my choice for cool quote will require me to defend myself ... so here goes. “I’ll be back” is the one that gets all the glory. Personally I think the line is kind of awkward for the scene and doesn’t really work. Sure it becomes Arnold’s go-to line for future films, but it might be a little overplayed at this point. “Come with me if you want to live” is my pick. It works great for the scene ... and if I had seen this movie when I was younger I would have totally tried using it as a pick-up line at a party or at a bar. And like all of my other attempts, it probably would not have worked.

So for years I have been quoting the Terminator arcade game and it turns out, like in many other instances, I was wrong. But I don’t care. I will continue to give Linda Hamilton my sound advice: Sarah Connor ... LOOK OUT!

Next movie to review: Beverly Hills Cop